Antonelli will drive Hamilton’s Mercedes in first practice in Mexico RaceFans

Andrea Kimi Antonelli will continue his preparations for his Formula 1 debut with his second appearance in first practice for Mercedes this week.

The Mercedes driver, who will be named as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement next year, will take control of the seven-time world champion’s car in first practice at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.

Antonelli’s only previous appearance for the team in official Formula 1 practice ended after just five laps. He impressed the team with his instant speed on his debut at Monza, but lost control of his car at the Parabolica and crashed.

After last weekend’s Circuit of the Americas sprint race, which featured just one hour of practice, Mercedes are hoping to use the extra time available in Mexico to better understand the innovations they introduced there. The team was puzzled by the performance of its upgraded W15, which had claimed pole position on Friday but was never quite as competitive. Hamilton and George Russell retired over the weekend.

Antonelli’s second run means Mercedes have fulfilled their commitment to concede one practice session in each of their cars to the junior driver. He is the fourth driver to confirm participation in this weekend’s practice, joining IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward in McLaren, Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich in Aston Martin and World Endurance Championship driver Robert Schwartzman in Sauber.

First practice drivers available in 2024

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2024 Mexican Grand Prix

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